Our international bird looking like a sad clown, isn’t a very attractive subject for a wildlife artist? For me it was a welcome alternative to all grass eaters and predators like elk, moose, wolves, big cats, etc. In the end I would see and paint something different.
The subject had been lingering in my head for years; now it is finally done and it made me very happy. My hope is that it will do so for many people. Several species of puffins exist all along the northern coastlines, from Alaska to Scotland to Scandinavia. I chose the most typical species and the most widespread: the Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) which means “little brother of the North”. The term “brother” comes from its black and white coat reminiscent of the monks robes. The world population is estimated to about 7,000,000 couples. Puffins live and breed on coastal cliffs and offshore islands. They excavate burrows in the ground, sometimes six feet long. Where populations are dense, the burrows cross and can become real underground labyrinths. Most puffins do not reproduce before the age of seven and will lay only one egg. They are real fishermen and can hold up to ten little fishes in their beak. When diving they use their wings to “fly“ under water.